1981 Excella II Zip Dee Awning Trouble

[LisaE]

Working on this old gal and tried to open the awning for the first time. PO said it worked and we saw it open once. Went to open it today and (1) we appear to not have a travel lock - is this possible? - there doesn't even seem to be markings on the exterior skin showing one was once installed and (2) there is not a pull strap sticking out for us to start rolling out the shade. Whole shade . seems to be tightly snug against the body of the rig even after undoing the wheel locks and we can't budge it. Has anyone seen something like this? Help?!

[featherbedder]

Originally Posted by LisaE

Working on this old gal and tried to open the awning for the first time. PO said it worked and we saw it open once. Went to open it today and (1) we appear to not have a travel lock - is this possible? - there doesn't even seem to be markings on the exterior skin showing one was once installed and (2) there is not a pull strap sticking out for us to start rolling out the shade. Whole shade . seems to be tightly snug against the body of the rig even after undoing the wheel locks and we can't budge it. Has anyone seen something like this? Help?!

First look on front end of roller see if a lever to unlock as some had them, then one person on each arm pull awning out, one person cannot pull arms to deploy, it takes TWO. Then should reveal pull strap if one there, it's easy to misjudge when rolling up, to roll strap in roll, if no strap contact zip-dee pur new strap install being careful when closing not to weave strap to much. Google zip-dee has directions of directions I stated about open and closing.

[Lumatic]

Ditto on above

There will be resistance when you start to pull on the arms, but after you get it started it will be a lot easier.

Some trailers have travel locks, some don't. It is a safety feature to prevent deploying on the highway, which could happen if you missed the front wheel. You can add one.

The device mentioned above is called a Z lock. It is a lever on the end of the roller. I have one on each end.